An excellent article by Walter Woon that provides much insight into our legal system and how politics can have a drastic impact on it. Below are some of my favorite excerpts from the article: "The rule of law is not the natural state of human society. For most of history, in most societies, the system has been rule by the powerful. The rule of law cannot be imposed by force or governmental decree. Citizens must accept it and actively cooperate in upholding it. Prosecutions are a tangible manifestation of the rule of law. "The public is not stupid. People have a sense of justice. That sense is outraged if double standards are practised - a lenient one for the rich and politically influential, a stricter one for ordinary persons and the strictest one for oppositionists. The public prosecutor has to maintain a scrupulous neutrality so as to avoid being accused of partiality." This is so true. And we should do well to heed the lessons of history and of other regimes. "So the question is: What can be done to strengthen the system? We accept it as a given that judges should be politically neutral and not take instructions from politicians. "A quick look at the state of the world will show that pressure on prosecutors is common, even in countries that consider themselves to be shining examples of the rule of law. Here's hoping we do fix the roof now.
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Offer ends 30 September. Contact us to take advantage of this great deal today! Hot on the heels of JP Morgan's Dimon's contrarian view of the value of Bitcoin is another article from Wall Street Journal decrying Bitcoin's worth. There is no chance whatsoever that bitcoin can displace the dollar, for the simple reason that it is badly designed. Bitcoin can handle a pathetically small number of transactions, and uses an inordinate amount of electricity to do so, making it entirely unsuitable to replace ordinary money. The article is right in this : "But if no one spends bitcoin, it will never get established as a currency." And if it doesn't get established as a currency, it would be virtually worthless, pun unintended. Gamers always get a lot of flak but this article argues that you can be more successful if you approach life as if you were playing it as an actual MMORPG. (Incidentally, there really is an MMORPG that tries to recreate real-world living. It's called Second Life.)
In summary, the eight steps in the article are (words in italics are paraphrased) : 1) Banish Your Fear Of Failure 2) Establish Your Mission 3) Embrace the Grind 4) Reward Yourself 5) Seek to Level Up 6) Always Try To Group Up 7) Deal With The Hand You're Dealt With 8) Be In Control “Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and Determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan “Press On” has solved and will always solve the problems of the human race.” A game is taking the world by storm and it's not even released yet. Yes, we're talking about Playerunknown's Battlegrounds. Still in early access mode, it has already sold more than 10 million copies. The best part is, it's not even from a large studio. It's success story is an inspiring one. And even though its founder Brendan Greene insists he's the luckiest man in gaming, in reality its really about persistence. Aside from the difficulties of learning a new alphabet just to understand things, Greene says he'd live anywhere if it meant getting to work on his game — even "a small shed in the middle of nowhere." That my friends, is persistence. Read more about his story here. "Implementing blockchain will require significant investment in systems and processes to meet its aim of creating a more secure, transparent and efficient system, therefore removing the need for the time-consuming financial checks of today." so says Jeanne Boillet, global assurance innovation leader of EY.
While that is the aim, we believe it would take a long time for our auditing standards to embrace the security of blockchain. But this is expected; after all we are called to be professional sceptics. Read more of what she has to say here. As the tax reporting season draws near, here is an article to help you decide whether that particular business expense your are planning to claim qualifies for deduction or not.
To summarize, the deductibility of expenses depends on the interpretation and application of Section 14 and 15 of the Income Tax Act. It is important for the taxpayer to be familiar with these sections to avoid under-claiming eligible tax deductions or worse, over-claiming tax deductions which would result in higher tax payable or penalties for the taxpayer. If you require assistance in this area, please feel free to Contact Us! |
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